Add your thoughts using the KWL approach. Thinking about Game Mechanics, Games-Based Learning or gamification.....
K = What do you know? Learning occurs best when enjoyment is involved. I have seen this when reading and play/acting out stories to children. I have also observed how skills such as typing, strategic thinking and cooperation are improved in group play situations. Motivation to succeed in individual and group play increases when fun and rewards are involved.
W = What do you want to learn? How to find and choose games that would assist students with low social skills to gain more confidence and interaction skills in a meaningful learning situation
L = What have you learned? (we'll do this last one later) Learned the value of fun and and what makes learning successful. Learned why GBL can enhance general learning by improving engagement, increasing motivation, encouraging mastery of challenges with the resulting growth in self esteem, improving social interaction and overall increasing the enjoyment of the learning process which can then be taken into real life situations.
Reflection
Add your thoughts here and also add to the KWL notes above, where appropriate.
Fun can sometimes have have more value and make learning more successful than just plain hard work. Children first learn through play with family members so it would seem a natural and successful progression to incorporate play in the school learning environment. We are already using elements of gamification by incorporating cooperation and rewards and hence the development through to GBL would seem a natural progression that would engage many more students
Level 2
Where do I start?
Identify some learning outcomes that you will be visiting with your students in upcoming lessons. Note down here some ways they might benefit from gamification. Learning outcomes: Improved engagement Motivation and curiosity Improved peer collaboration Benefits: More self confidence and risk taking Improved interest and behaviour More acceptance of each other in group situations
Observe and reflect
After playing a game what are your personal thoughts about the design and elements involved and how any of these could help you in thinking about doing the same in a learning activity? Involving the students in the design of the game, its rules and constraints was a really valuable thing to do. They were more prepared to be involved when it was their own "baby" and greatly enjoyed having their ideas approved and carried out. Watching them create and evolve ides showed how lateral and original their ideas could be - play came very naturally to them and they learned and developed skills without realising it. It definitely makes sense to involve the students when planning lessons and how outcomes could be met. I am especially interested in the social development that students gain and this seems intrinsic to the gaming situation
Level 3
Premiers Reading Challenge Reflection
Write your thoughts here and or print a rubric and circle the appropriate areas you notice as you review the rules of this gamified experience. (feel free to scan or photograph and upload your rubic to this page.) I think that the PRC rates quite low on the Gamification rubric. It has no narrative, progression is really only by year group and natural age progression, and there is very little emotion involved other than a relationship with the teacher or peers who recommend books. Parents may read to K-2 but as this probably already occurs it's not an added benefit. The rules are clear but very structured and students must mainly read from the set lists. Having overseen the PRC for many years I know how disappointed the students are with the inflexibility of the lists and especially because many of the books are outdated and don't reflect current titles and reading trends - ie there is not enough flexibility to reflect students' interests, it can be a struggle and a disappointment to the good readers as the books reflect someone else's choices. Progression is limited and the reward is only at completion, there is no feedback and challenge and competition is limited. Many of the components of mechanics and dynamics are missing - it's lucky that reading in itself is its own reward!
Zombie Learning Reflection
Write your thoughts here and or print a rubric and circle the appropriate areas you notice as you review the rules of this gamified experience.
(feel free to scan or photograph and upload your rubic to this page.) This Zombie themed game fulfills all the elements of Game dynamics, mechanics and components at differing points throughout. It has an ongoing narrative which engages and helps students to understand why they need to learn the various Geography concepts eg for survival etc. Because the students do their work alongside the storyline it helps them to engage with the topics and draws them further along. It allows for emotional response and interaction within the constraints of the necessary curriculum standards by having interactive missions that also incorporate serious fun. There is structure and progression but with many opportunities for social engagement, peer interaction and support on various levels eg with competition and cooperation. There is challenge and achievement and progress is clear from the feedback of survival with concrete acquisition of resources, transactions and rewards .The experience is enhanced by being project based learning which includes the skills of cooperation and compromise, and also because the learning is not just memory based but incorporates higher order thinking in applying knowledge and skills learned. Immediate feedback eg rewards, win states, accelerates learning responses and the understanding of how this could be relevant to real-life problems and real world situations
You Try/ A final reflection
Add your finished plan here as an upload file or as text you have cut and pasted into the wiki. We would love to give you feedback to help you get started. (remember it does not need be perfect, it is a first attempt). Alternatively it can be emailed to us instead. At the moment it is difficult to plan out something in my own teaching classes but I am aiming to set up a situation that incorporates a socialization project that will assist students with weaker social skills to engage in interacting more positively with others. I have seen already that given the opportunity students will move from gaming independently to gaming side by side and then progressing to sharing games or at least to interacting with each other with questions, assistance, advice etc
My general Game Thinking Planning would look something like this - Lesson outcomes Students will learn to initiate and end social interactions; will participate in reciprocal conversations Students will learn to take turns, listen, offer and ask for help Students will be aware of and manage emotions Students will learn how to deal with challenges, mistakes, and listen to and follow instructions Students will learn how to be a good winner and a good loser Students will take these skills into their classroom learning situations Description of Audience Mixed Year 7, 8 and 9 students with social interaction difficulties. . Some are quite social but don't have listening skills . Some can't initiate social activities but want to participate and warm up slowly . Some are loners but sad and lonely . Some are just awkward in any conversational exchange Time constraints The games will take place in the Library at lunchtime 3 days a week for 1 month initially Game elements A game will be chosen that has a storyline or theme that all the students agree on. It will incorporate multi player, multi level experiences and opportunities for challenges, rewards and constant feedback. Progression will be possible through achievement of tasks etc. (World of Warcraft is a classic example of this) Competition and cooperation and chance will all be necessary components. It should incorporate some element of Hard Fun so that the students experience the thrill and reward of the mastery of a challenge but also be aimed at Social Fun so that the students have the opportunity to work and play together, to learn cooperation and general conversational skills. Learning cognitive skills are not the priority here but the game will probably improve these whilst mainly aiming to assist the development of improved social skills and build self esteem and self capacity. A resource I intend to contact is the Queensland based "Young Minds and Health Development Network" that uses games like "Secret Agent Society" to help children with social difficulties to learn to deal with challenging situations, to gain emotional control and to learn social skills that can be applied to real world situations.
This course has greatly aided my understanding of GBL, has been very clear and well presented and has given me ideas to present to staff for inspiration and (if I get the expected results from my target group) to help motivate others to increase the implementation of GBL.
Have you filled in the evaluation? Have you found the bonus level content?
Badges & Rewards
Level 1
KWL (Levels 1 and 3)
Add your thoughts using the KWL approach. Thinking about Game Mechanics, Games-Based Learning or gamification.....K = What do you know?
Learning occurs best when enjoyment is involved. I have seen this when reading and play/acting out stories to children. I have also observed how skills such as typing, strategic thinking and cooperation are improved in group play situations. Motivation to succeed in individual and group play increases when fun and rewards are involved.
W = What do you want to learn?
How to find and choose games that would assist students with low social skills to gain more confidence and interaction skills in a meaningful learning situation
L = What have you learned? (we'll do this last one later)
Learned the value of fun and and what makes learning successful.
Learned why GBL can enhance general learning by improving engagement, increasing motivation, encouraging mastery of challenges with the resulting growth in self esteem, improving social interaction and overall increasing the enjoyment of the learning process which can then be taken into real life situations.
Reflection
Add your thoughts here and also add to the KWL notes above, where appropriate.Fun can sometimes have have more value and make learning more successful than just plain hard work.
Children first learn through play with family members so it would seem a natural and successful progression to incorporate play in the school learning environment. We are already using elements of gamification by incorporating cooperation and rewards and hence the development through to GBL would seem a natural progression that would engage many more students
Level 2
Where do I start?
Identify some learning outcomes that you will be visiting with your students in upcoming lessons. Note down here some ways they might benefit from gamification.Learning outcomes:
Improved engagement
Motivation and curiosity
Improved peer collaboration
Benefits:
More self confidence and risk taking
Improved interest and behaviour
More acceptance of each other in group situations
Observe and reflect
After playing a game what are your personal thoughts about the design and elements involved and how any of these could help you in thinking about doing the same in a learning activity?
Involving the students in the design of the game, its rules and constraints was a really valuable thing to do. They were more prepared to be involved when it was their own "baby" and greatly enjoyed having their ideas approved and carried out. Watching them create and evolve ides showed how lateral and original their ideas could be - play came very naturally to them and they learned and developed skills without realising it. It definitely makes sense to involve the students when planning lessons and how outcomes could be met. I am especially interested in the social development that students gain and this seems intrinsic to the gaming situation
Level 3
Premiers Reading Challenge Reflection
Write your thoughts here and or print a rubric and circle the appropriate areas you notice as you review the rules of this gamified experience. (feel free to scan or photograph and upload your rubic to this page.)I think that the PRC rates quite low on the Gamification rubric. It has no narrative, progression is really only by year group and natural age progression, and there is very little emotion involved other than a relationship with the teacher or peers who recommend books. Parents may read to K-2 but as this probably already occurs it's not an added benefit. The rules are clear but very structured and students must mainly read from the set lists. Having overseen the PRC for many years I know how disappointed the students are with the inflexibility of the lists and especially because many of the books are outdated and don't reflect current titles and reading trends - ie there is not enough flexibility to reflect students' interests, it can be a struggle and a disappointment to the good readers as the books reflect someone else's choices. Progression is limited and the reward is only at completion, there is no feedback and challenge and competition is limited. Many of the components of mechanics and dynamics are missing - it's lucky that reading in itself is its own reward!
Zombie Learning Reflection
Write your thoughts here and or print a rubric and circle the appropriate areas you notice as you review the rules of this gamified experience.(feel free to scan or photograph and upload your rubic to this page.)
This Zombie themed game fulfills all the elements of Game dynamics, mechanics and components at differing points throughout. It has an ongoing narrative which engages and helps students to understand why they need to learn the various Geography concepts eg for survival etc. Because the students do their work alongside the storyline it helps them to engage with the topics and draws them further along. It allows for emotional response and interaction within the constraints of the necessary curriculum standards by having interactive missions that also incorporate serious fun. There is structure and progression but with many opportunities for social engagement, peer interaction and support on various levels eg with competition and cooperation. There is challenge and achievement and progress is clear from the feedback of survival with concrete acquisition of resources, transactions and rewards .The experience is enhanced by being project based learning which includes the skills of cooperation and compromise, and also because the learning is not just memory based but incorporates higher order thinking in applying knowledge and skills learned. Immediate feedback eg rewards, win states, accelerates learning responses and the understanding of how this could be relevant to real-life problems and real world situations
You Try/ A final reflection
Add your finished plan here as an upload file or as text you have cut and pasted into the wiki. We would love to give you feedback to help you get started. (remember it does not need be perfect, it is a first attempt). Alternatively it can be emailed to us instead.At the moment it is difficult to plan out something in my own teaching classes but I am aiming to set up a situation that incorporates a socialization project that will assist students with weaker social skills to engage in interacting more positively with others. I have seen already that given the opportunity students will move from gaming independently to gaming side by side and then progressing to sharing games or at least to interacting with each other with questions, assistance, advice etc
My general Game Thinking Planning would look something like this -
Lesson outcomes
Students will learn to initiate and end social interactions; will participate in reciprocal conversations
Students will learn to take turns, listen, offer and ask for help
Students will be aware of and manage emotions
Students will learn how to deal with challenges, mistakes, and listen to and follow instructions
Students will learn how to be a good winner and a good loser
Students will take these skills into their classroom learning situations
Description of Audience
Mixed Year 7, 8 and 9 students with social interaction difficulties.
. Some are quite social but don't have listening skills
. Some can't initiate social activities but want to participate and warm up slowly
. Some are loners but sad and lonely
. Some are just awkward in any conversational exchange
Time constraints
The games will take place in the Library at lunchtime 3 days a week for 1 month initially
Game elements
A game will be chosen that has a storyline or theme that all the students agree on. It will incorporate multi player, multi level experiences and opportunities for challenges, rewards and constant feedback. Progression will be possible through achievement of tasks etc. (World of Warcraft is a classic example of this) Competition and cooperation and chance will all be necessary components. It should incorporate some element of Hard Fun so that the students experience the thrill and reward of the mastery of a challenge but also be aimed at Social Fun so that the students have the opportunity to work and play together, to learn cooperation and general conversational skills. Learning cognitive skills are not the priority here but the game will probably improve these whilst mainly aiming to assist the development of improved social skills and build self esteem and self capacity.
A resource I intend to contact is the Queensland based "Young Minds and Health Development Network" that uses games like "Secret Agent Society" to help children with social difficulties to learn to deal with challenging situations, to gain emotional control and to learn social skills that can be applied to real world situations.
This course has greatly aided my understanding of GBL, has been very clear and well presented and has given me ideas to present to staff for inspiration and (if I get the expected results from my target group) to help motivate others to increase the implementation of GBL.
Have you filled in the evaluation? Have you found the bonus level content?